Mann to address Cape Coral Republican Club tonight

September 24, 2013

The Cape Coral Republican Club will meet at 7 p.m. tonight, Sept 24, at 7p.m. at Palmetto-Pine Country Club.

The featured speaker will be Lee County Commissioner Frank Mann, District 5.

FMann, a lifelong resident of Lee County, began his political career in 1974 with his election to the Florida House of Representatives. Mann served eight years in the House. In 1982, he was elected to a four-year term in the Florida Senate. During those years, he represented most of Lee, Charlotte and Collier Counties. In 1991, he was appointed by Florida Gov. Lawton Chiles to the South Florida Water Management District Board, where he served for two years. Gov. Chiles again called upon him, this time to fill the unexpired term in District 4 during 1993-94 on the Lee County Board of County Commissioners. From 1996-98, Mr. Mann answered Gov. Chile's call to finish the last two years of an open position on the Lee Memorial Hospital Board. In 2002, he won the Republican primary for State Senate over four opponents with a margin of 12 percentage points.

In the legislature, Mann served 10 years on the Natural Resources Committee, working actively for the preservation of Upper Captiva Island, Cayo Costa Island and Lovers Key in Lee County. He was active in the creation of the Environmentally Endangered Lands Program, which led to the purchase of 40,000 acres of sensitive lands in the Fakahatchee Strand in Collier County. While he was serving in the legislature, US 41 was four-laned from Punta Gorda to Naples, I-75 was completed from Tampa to Naples, the four-laning of SR80 was begun and the first four-year university -- University of South Florida Branch Campus-- was opened in Lee County. Mann served as chairman of both the budget committees on Transportation and Education during his Florida State Legislature days.

After his service in the legislature, he served for 17 years as chief spokesman and advocate for the Association for Retarded Citizens of Florida in the state capital. Recently, he has served for four years as a special consultant on Governmental Affairs for the Realtor Association of Greater Fort Myers, working primarily on Affordable Housing issues. In 1967, he founded the Mann Webb Insurance Agency 1967. He has a BA degree from Vanderbilt University in Tennessee.

In June, he and his wife Mary Lee, celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary. They have two sons, both practicing attorneys in Fort Myers. Now semi-retired, Mr. and Mrs. Mann live among citrus groves in eastern Lee County, happily spoiling their five grandchildren.